field cultivators

[caterpillar guy]

Been looking at a different field cultivator and seems most don't list the spacing on the shanks. I like the 7 inch better for levelness.

 

[WESnIL]

Wouldn't one with 7 inch spacing have lots of problems with trash flow?

 

[caterpillar guy]

I've had it for about 40 years now and yes it will plug up if you have an excessive amount of trash . It will not work in bean stubble in fall to plant wheat. But then a disk is the only thing I've found for that. I have with the 7 inch sweeps gone through bean stubble in the spring for the first pass since it was cut in the fall with few issues. Our mulch finisher /soil finisher will plug with some trash also. Both it is mostly the spike on the back that rolls trash as it goes under it.

 

[Brendon-KS]

Wouldn't one with 7 inch spacing have lots of problems with trash flow?

My Kent (which was bought out by Great Plains) field cultivator has 7" spacing but with the shanks in four rows there is a lot of space for trash to flow through, even with the 10" sweeps. Older, low-clearance cultivators do have a lot more problems with plugging than more modern, high-clearance models.

 

[caterpillar guy]

I bought this one I have in about 1980 new. It has probably about as much clearance under it as new ones do and the shanks are spread back over 5 rows. I'm thinking about whether to add about 4 feet o on to it from 24 foot to close to 30 foot to match up with my cultipacker. OR to maybe trade for one that size. But don't want the 9 inch sweeps want 7's. Like I said earlier the 9 inch if you travel about 5 MPH or more it ridges so much more than the 7 inch does. Don't know if it is the make of the machine with one being a Glencoe soil finisher and the other being an IH vibra shank or not. Would like a sunflower I believe but most of them I see are 9 inch.

 

[Brendon-KS]

I bought this one I have in about 1980 new. It has probably about as much clearance under it as new ones do and the shanks are spread back over 5 rows. I'm thinking about whether to add about 4 feet o on to it from 24 foot to close to 30 foot to match up with my cultipacker. OR to maybe trade for one that size. But don't want the 9 inch sweeps want 7's. Like I said earlier the 9 inch if you travel about 5 MPH or more it ridges so much more than the 7 inch does. Don't know if it is the make of the machine with one being a Glencoe soil finisher and the other being an IH vibra shank or not. Would like a sunflower I believe but most of them I see are 9 inch.

I'm confused if we're talking about shank spacing or sweep size here. The new Sunflower cultivators have 6" shank spacing with 9" sweeps from the factory. All cultivators that I know of have between 6 and 7 inch shank spacing but of course the sweep size can be whatever you want. I run the 10" to get plenty of overlap and ensure a complete weed kill. With my 3-bar spike harrow the resulting smoothness is acceptable but not as good as my FIL's cultivator that is basically just a wider version of mine but with a 5-bar harrow.

 

[caterpillar guy]

Shank spacing with 7 inch sweeps. they will over lap if the shanks are about 6.5 inches apart and 7 inch sweeps.

 

[Leroy]

Shank spacing with 7 inch sweeps. they will over lap if the shanks are about 6.5 inches apart and 7 inch sweeps.

That used to be normal years ago but then you did not trying to work in trash. You wanted a bare field to get a good sees bed.

 

[caterpillar guy]

I've not had it plug in chisel plowed corn stalks and not very often in soybean residue from the previous fall with nothing done to it. With the trash from the fall before just go in and tear it up to plant with a second pass to smooth it out more.